BofA Stays Bearish on C3.ai (AI), Sees Limited Upside Amid Rising AI Competition

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) is one of the 10 AI Stocks Making Waves on Wall Street. On January 30, BofA Securities analyst Brad Sills lowered the price target on the stock to $10.00 (from $14.00) while maintaining an “Underperform” rating. The firm sees weak growth visibility, peer discount, and limited upside until a clearer defensibility and growth path emerges.

BofA expressed concerns about C3.ai’s ability to maintain competitive differentiation in the AI category which is being attacked from all angles. The AI applications market is becoming increasingly crowded, which is shaking the company’s ability to sustain differentiation. Moreover, it believes that only time will tell whether C3.ai will become a significant share gainer in the AI space.

There is, however, another hurdle, which is that the company’s revenue growth and free cash flow profile may be negative for several more years. Until these metrics improve and C3.ai value proposition becomes long-term defensible, its shares will likely underperform its infrastructure software peers.

“Our $10 PO (was $14) is based on 2.7x (was 3.3x) EV/FY26E revenue, a discount to peers at 5.7x. We revise our multiple and estimates to reflect our updated view on growth potential, risks and peer multiple compression.”

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) is an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company involved in building and operating enterprise-scale AI applications and accelerating digital transformation.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.